LEGENDS OF THE FALL

Enough with the 'weak ankles' and other excuses, you can learn to skate

My elementary-school newspaper always listed the career ambitions of the graduating eighth-grade class in its spring edition. In the typically dreamy manner of 13-year-olds, many of my classmates listed their goals as "model," "baseball player," "actress" and "astronaut." Mine was "figure skater." But I had Olympic aspirations of the most casual kind. One or two sessions a week won't take you to that level, and the top competitors — as in most sports — started training early and gave up regular lives long before eight grade.

I learned to skate outdoors as a pre-schooler on those double-bladed
skates you strap onto your shoes (do they still make those?). When I
got a little older and wanted to take lessons, I trekked across Chicago
on a bus to a decrepit old rink, part of a chain owned by '40s Canadian
skater Michael Kirby. (To this day, my sisters and I refer to cheesy
organ versions of "Winter Wonderland" as "Kirby music.") It was still
outdoors and seasonal but it had a regulated, refrigerated surface and
a mighty Zamboni that charged out between sessions to turn the ice
surface slick and glossy.

Back then, figure skating was an obscure sport for mostly
well-heeled amateurs, where Olympic competitors did a few years in a
touring ice show before settling down to regular lives.

That was changing by the early '90s, when a weird fluke event
suddenly raised public awareness of the sport and propelled an even
faster growth of the burgeoning opportunities for professional skaters.
That was, of course, the infamous 2004 kneecapping of Olympic favorite
Nancy Kerrigan by associates of competitor Tonya Harding. Because of
it, Harding was virtually the only top-level skater of the '80s and
'90s not to profit from this growth. Talk about karma!

These days it seems like every small town has a skating rink. When I
first moved to Cleveland Heights, the city had a single,
half-year rink. Now it's got two rinks; one is open almost year-round
(Cleveland Heights Community Center, Mayfield and Monticello).
Lakewood's Serpentini Arena, a.k.a. Winterhurst, (14740 Lakewood
Heights Blvd.), also has two full-sized rinks, and 1960 Olympic
gold-medal winner Carol Heiss-Jenkins and 1996 U.S. silver medalist
Tonia Kwiatkowski coach there.

Shaker Heights'Thornton Park Rink (20701 Farnsleigh
Rd.) and Euclid's Orr Ice Center (22550 Milton Dr.) have been
around for decades. But the plethora of recreation centers in seemingly
every suburb has added to the inventory of local rinks. Strongsville,
Parma, Rocky River, Brooklyn, North Olmsted and Garfield Heights all
have rinks. Most are seasonal, fall through spring, although several
— like Serpentini and Parma's Lakefront Lines Arena — are
open year round. Virtually every rink offers open skating sessions for
residents and non-residents, season passes and lessons for a variety of
ages and ability levels.

Both Cleveland and Akron offer a chance to re-create that old
pond-in-the-park skating experience, without the rugged ice surface and
the warm weather. At University Circle's Wade Oval, an
artificial surface allows skating regardless of weather. It's open
Friday-Sunday through March 21; every day December 20-January 3. It's
free; skate rental is $3. (Be advised that the surface dulls blades
quickly; better to rent than bring your own.) Go universitycircle.org for info. At
Akron's downtown Lock 3, the 10,000 square-foot rink is open
daily during daylight hours. It's also free; skate rental on attended
days (Thursday through Sunday) is $2. Go to lock3live.com for information.

To find a club, go to clevelandskating.com, the website of
the Greater Cleveland Council of Skating Clubs. Their site will
not only hook you up with the nearest member club but explains the ins
and outs of the various skating disciplines, describes the USFSA's
Basic Skills program, posts competition results and lists skating
events in the area.

If you're going to get serious enough about skating to buy your own
figure skates, it's smart to join a club and take guidance from more
experienced skaters on what to buy and from where. Finding durable
skates with proper fitting boots is an advanced science. You'll pay
around $300-$400 apiece for boots and blades, which serious skaters
purchase separately. Regular recreational skaters will still probably
spend $300-$400 for the combo. Good hockey skates can be had for less.
For expert advice, visit Perani's Hockey World (24126 Lorain Rd., North
Olmsted, 440.979.9700) or Logos on Lee/Guenther Sports (3101 Mayfield
Rd. Cleveland Hts.)

Oh, and remember "weak ankles"? Everyone's probably heard someone
say they gave up skating because of them. I thought I had them when I
switched from double- to single-blade skates. But they're virtually
nonexistent. The impression of weak ankles mostly stems from
well-meaning parents who bought skates a few sizes too big for their
child to "grow into." When I got boots that supported my ankles
properly — slightly smaller than street-shoe size and worn only
with thin tights — my "weak ankles" vanished.